How Did Race Impact The Election Of 1860

There is one specific Presidential election that, in my mind, had the most significant impact on the United States. This is the Election of 1860. The main topic during this election was slavery. It was up to the people of the United States to decide the fate of their country. Similar to how the country was split at the time, both candidates held two opposing viewpoints on the issue. Race played a large role in the election. The election of 1860 is often regarded as one of the three most critical elections in the history of the United States (Levy). Out of all of the fifty-eight presidential elections, the Election of 1860 had one of the most impactful outcomes on United States history. Before the Election of 1860, many events took place that would impact the election. One of these events was the Dred Scott case. The Dred Scott case was a Supreme Court case in which a slave travelled with his owner from a slave state to a free state. While in the free state, Scott married another slave. His owner whom he had travelled there with allowed Scott to be free. When his owner died, Scott attempted to sue his wife because she rented Scott out as a slave again, despite being free when he travelled to the non-slave state. Scott lost the court case and the outcome had a large impact on

This election was unique in that there were two elections taking place. The candidates running were Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckenridge, and John Bell. Abraham Lincoln was a moderate Republican running against the very same man he lost an Illinois Senate seat against, Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas. These two candidates were running against each other for the ballot in the North. John Breckenridge was the Democratic nominee for the Southern ballot. Tennessee Senator John Bell was the nominee from the Constitutional Union Party, also on the Southern ballot (Week 15 Lecture, page